Converted Garage into photography studio / office

GatoAzul1968

GatoAzul1968

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Has anyone ever converted a garage into either a photography studio or into an office? (Not the terrace garage ones)

If so:

1) Do we have to get planning permission?
2) If so, was it "Yes" or "No" and why if it is "No"
3) How much will it cost you to do the job? Is it worth it?
 
Do you mean stand alone garage?
I f so, I did need it but didn't apply for it but then won it retrospectively.
It wasn't really a conversion but a knock down and rebuild as it needed windows, real doors, new roof and damp course - it sill was a bit damp after that.
£10k doing most work myself or with free labour
 
"Planning permission is not usually required, providing the work is internal and does not involve enlarging the building." - http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/garageconversion/. This is a gov.uk website so should be accurate. Doesn't seem to mention (at first glance) whether this applies to stand alone garages or not. (This also applies to England - not necessarily other parts of the UK).
 
Point 3 - the cost will vary massively, dependent upon the construction / state of the existing garage, whether you are doing the work yourself, if you are paying for labour whereabouts you are in the country etc... Materials cost would not be astronomical, but it depends on how high spec you want it to be. As for wether it would be worth it, surely that's just too subjective?
 
Also depends on what the Deeds say. Some councils may see it as change of use. Your home insurance will need to know.
 
If you intend running the studio as a business you might need to talk to the mortgage lender (if you have a mortgage).

Dave
 
I will watch this thread with interest as I am thinking of doing something similar (my garage is part of the house but has no access from inside the house so knock through door would be needed)

My only concerns would be headroom for softboxes, brollies on stands etc and how much of the width of an average sized garage would be useable realistically.
 
How insulated is your current garage? If is of the same construction as the house, that's one thing... but if you need to insulate I'd think about that and the cost as when you come to sell you'll be wanting to sell it as an additional room, rather than a large fridge!
 
BBR said:
If you are going to use your home garage for commercial purposes you will need permission for 'change of use', at least we did when we did something similar 7 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yep, a simple formality but essential.
 
Drylining with plasterboard is a biggie for both insulation and fire protection, but should be pretty straightforward. Complications come from lighting (as mentioned earlier) depending on whether it is a pitched roof or a flat one, but again that should be pretty much factual.
 
Peter69 said:
Do you mean stand alone garage?
I f so, I did need it but didn't apply for it but then won it retrospectively.
It wasn't really a conversion but a knock down and rebuild as it needed windows, real doors, new roof and damp course - it sill was a bit damp after that.
£10k doing most work myself or with free labour
Click to expand...

I paid about that for a large log cabin in the garden, built for me with power run in etc. watch the rules on size if a meter away from the boundary, but otherwise you can go to 50% of your garden.
 
Gazamonk said:
My only concerns would be ... how much of the width of an average sized garage would be useable realistically.
Click to expand...
That might be a real issue. We're in the early stages of a major extension /renovation to our house and one thing that struck me was how draconian the building regulations are these days in terms of insulation etc. If you're converting a garage you'll need to add chunky insulation to the walls, floor and roof. That will reduce the internal space significantly.
 
StewartR said:
That might be a real issue. We're in the early stages of a major extension /renovation to our house and one thing that struck me was how draconian the building regulations are these days in terms of insulation etc. If you're converting a garage you'll need to add chunky insulation to the walls, floor and roof. That will reduce the internal space significantly.
Click to expand...
This^ if it's a std single garage with single skin walls! it's hardly big enough for a studio, take off nearly a foot of width for insulation, and you have a space that's only wide enough for headshots or a small study. You might squeeze a meeting space if you're careful with furniture choice andnone of your customers are on the large side.
 
I had a room in my old company which was perfect. 5.5m wide, which meant I could use the large paper roll backgrounds on the multiple wall holders, and lights to either side so I could light the white background if required. 11m long gave plenty of length for storage of kit behind the work area and it was about 4m high, so room to hoist a large softbox high on a stand.

Depends on what you're shooting but for groups you'd need to use the 2.75m paper roll width and then some room either side. That and the height is probably the limiting factor?

If only my 35' x 20' garage wasn't full of vehicles and stuff.
 
I agree with the comments re. the width. Just not practical for anything other than a one or maybe two person head and shoulder shot.
 
I use to have a double width garage with a proper full pitched roof.
I contacted the council & was informed as long as I didn't change the external appearance I wouldn't need planning permission to alter the inside.
Fortunately I had double doors for both sides, ie, four doors rather than the up & over style.
This allowed myself to use 3 feet across almost the whole width in from these doors to use as storage.
The almost the whole width refers to the fact I installed a full size stair case on the right side up to what became an office over the studio below.
I used thermal plaster board against the walls, basically they are plaster board with styrene on one side & then silver foil, no not the oven type, proper building regulation foil.
This foil goes against the brick work as a barrier against damp & cold.
The boards were fixed to the brick with plaster board adhesive, I had to get a plaster to skim finish the boards though.
I put a floating floor in & then tongue & groove floor boards so no nails showed, Oh & more of the styrene board between the floating floor sections for further insulation.
I put in a skylight to the roof line for the office but put it to the garden side so as not to alter the look from the public view.
I put in central heating taken from the house, yes the garage was a detached building.
I took the pipes over the side gate & insulated them & took a separate electric supply with its own consumer unit.
In all this cost 4K with me doing all except the plastering.
Just to add there was already a side door to access the garage without needing to go through the main doors which is how I managed to effectively shut this section off & create the front as storage.
 
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